• Read a live blog about teaching safety on the internet, that I participated in over the internet! They are talking about the "tough" issues our kids are facing. Live from Princeton University. This was a discussion with CoolCatTeacher - Vicki Davis.

• Read a blog written by Nancy Willard.. she reviews ISAFE.org. Interesting view point!

• What is Digital Citizenship - blog from Techlearn

• President's Test - CoolCatTeacher Blog - Read on to take the "test". Kids need to know that what is posted on the internet can have life long consequences.

Along with internet safety, digital citizenship is of utmost importance today. Students need to know how to communicate with each other over the internet. They must follow rules. They need to know they can not write in slang and shorthand. They must take the responsibility seriously if they are going to be granted the privilidge to use the internet and collaborative learning spaces.

Here are some resources:

PBS Learning.now
Advocates for Digital Citizenship, Safety and Success
Teaching Digital Citizenship
Open Thinking and Digital Pedagogy
Podcast - Digital Citizenship (Moving at the Speed of Creativity)
Barbara Feldman - Teaching Digital Citizenship
TechLearning Blog - What is digital citizenship?
Digital Citizenship.net

You can never teach and talk about being safe on the internet or how to behave while using the internet enough with your students. (No matter what age!)


6th Grade
With 6th graders we use Netsmartz.
Netsmartz has great teacher resources as well as videos to play in class to discuss with students.
NOTE on videos: Always preview videos prior to showing in class. Some of the videos are a bit mature for 6th grade students and I sometimes show them to my 8th graders.

I have spent a lot of my personal time becoming certified on iSafe.
You must complete each training video in order to become certified.
Once you are done, you are given a wealth of downloadable lesson plans to use within your classroom.
ISafe Curriculum - Click here to view.
(Nancy Willard - mentioned above, disagree's a lot with iSafe's messages. She seems to think they send mixed messages and some that are totally incorrect.)

7th Grade
With the 7th grade students, they have been exposed to Netsmartz already, so I like to use Cybersmart. Cybersmart has great printable curriculum that you can share with your students.

Along with teaching the students in 7th grade about internet safety, we also discuss anti-violence issues such as cyberbullying. I use a few different sites:
stopcyberbullying
cyberbulling.org
Ad Council: Cyberbullying Prevention
Cyberbullying Information - Interactive
National Crime Prevention Council
6 Things you need to know about cyberbullying

Cyberbullying Statistics - PEW Internet: Report

Students create a Public Service Announcement using Keynote to discuss cyberbullying or antiviolence issues.

8th Grade
With 8th grade, we discuss some more about what is happening today in the world of social networking and review all of the topics we discussed in 6th and 7th grade. The discussions can begin to become more mature and contain some important information using statistics.